SMC Monthly Concert - July 2019

Dear Music Rasikas, 

SMC would like to invite you with family and friends to our Monthly Concert - to be held on Saturday 20th July 2019 at Epping Community Centre, 9 Oxford Street, Epping 

04:00 PM - 05:00 PM: Vocal concert by Kum. Sindhu Sharma accompanied by Smt. Mahathi Balajee on Violin and Chi. Balasubrahmanyam Mallela on Mridangam

05:10 PM - 07:10 PM: Vocal concert by Chi. Sudarshan Ravi accompanied by Smt. Bhairavi Raman on Violin and Sri. Nanthesh Sivarajah on Mridangam


Artiste Profiles:

Chi. Sudarshan Ravi


Sudarshan has been an avid student of music for the past 19 years, starting out in Sydney by learning under Uma Ramu Ayyar. Later, he began to come under the tutelage of Sri Malladi Ravikumar of the Malladi Brothers and, more recently, has been fortunate to learn from Sangeetha Kalanidhi Padma Bhushan Dr TV Gopalakrishnan as well. Currently, he learns under both gurus.

He is profoundly inspired by his guru parampara and his style mirrors the respect for classicism and musicality that his gurus have passed on to him. 

He performs in Chennai annually and has given concerts in esteemed sabhas such as Brahma Gana Sabha and Vani Mahal, as well as in Sydney. He was awarded the Runner-up at the 2019 Times Tyagaraja Awards, conducted at the Music Academy’s TTK auditorium and 3rd place at Sri Sankara TV’s Sangeeta Yaatra. With the blessings of his gurus, he performed at the Tiruvayyaru Tyagaraja Aradhana in 2017 and considers this as one of his cherished musical memories. Currently, he is a final year medical student at UNSW.

Kum. Sindhu Sharma


Sindhu was initiated into carnatic music at the age of 5 by her mother Smt. Kala Sharma. She continues her training in vocal carnatic music with Smt. Chitra Krishnamurthy and has had the opportunity to learn some krithis from Padma Shandilyan, disciple of Palghat KV Narayanaswamy.
She is has also learnt to play the Veena under the guidance of Smt. Malathi Nagarajan. Over the years Sindhu has been an active participant at various musical events and competitions in Sydney. Currently, Sindhu is completing her Honours in Media at the University of New South Wales.

Smt. Bhairavi Raman


Bhairavi Raman is a young Indian-Australian violinist, with over fifteen years' experience in the field. 
She was initially trained by Sri Murali Kumar (Melbourne), and has been under the guidance of Sri S Varadarajan from Chennai for the past ten years. She is also proficient in Western Classical violin, and was awarded an Associate of Music (A.Mus.A) in 2008 by the Australian Music Examination Board. Bhairavi often blends techniques from both styles to enhance her playing. 
Bhairavi has substantial performance experience, having performed both as a soloist and accompanying violinist for music and dance productions across Australia and internationally over the last fifteen years. She regularly performs at some of Chennai’s oldest and most prestigious sabhas, including Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Brahma Gana Sabha, Krishna Gana Sabha, the Indian Fine Arts Society and Narada Gana Sabha; and has shared the stage with several rising Carnatic musicians from India. Notably, Bhairavi has twice been invited to perform at the prestigious Madras Music Academy - in 2016 for the 'Spirit of Youth' festival, and again in 2018 for the 'HCL Concert Series'. 
Outside of learning and performing, Bhairavi runs a not for profit organisation along with a group of friends called “Gamaka”, which aims to promote and nurture young talent in Carnatic music through performance opportunities.

 

Smt. Mahathi Balajee


Mahathi was introduced to Carnatic music by her grandmother Vidushi Padma Veeraraghavan. She then continued to learn from Smt. Yamini Ramesh and later from Sri. O.S. Thiagarajan. She currently learns vocal music from Vidushi Seetha Narayanan and Smt. Yamini Ramesh and violin from Sri H.N. Bhaskar. She also learnt western classical violin and piano for several years. Mahathi was a regular performer in various cultural and musical shows in Wellington (New Zealand) and now regularly performs in Sydney. She is also actively involved in Yuva Sangeetha Margam - an initiative to promote Carnatic music among students and rasikas in Sydney. She completed a Certificate in Carnatic music (organised by the Madras University) upon completion of four grades of New Zealand Carnatic Music exams with distinction, and has won first place for vocal performance in a Carnatic music competition conducted in New Zealand.

Chi. Balasubrahmanyam Mallela


Balu is a passionate percussionist and has learnt the mridangam under the tutelage of Dr Suresh Ramachandra from Auckland. He continues to learn from Dr Ramachandra and Shri Peravali Jayabhaskar from Hyderabad. Balu is also a trained vocalist, under the mentorship of his mother Dr Padma Govardhan. He is currently studying in his 3rd year of a Double degree in Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine at the University of Sydney.

Sri. Nanthesh Sivarajah


Nanthesh Sivarajah began his training in mridangam in Sri Lanka under the guidance of late Sri Jampunathan Viswanatha Iyer before migrating to Melbourne and commencing his studies under Sri Balasri Rasiah. He performed his mridanga arangetram in 2006 and is currently a sishya of Sri. T.R. Sundaresan.  He regularly features in concerts across Australia and overseas.  

Nanthesh has had the privilege of performing with seasoned artistes at prestigious sabhas during the December music festival in Chennai. He has performed in several sabhas including the Nungambakkam Cultural Academy, the Sannidhi Academy of Fine Arts, Sangeetha Rasika Sangam, Kartik Fine Arts, Tirupati Temple in Tirumala, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He also had the opportunity to perform at the prestigious Madras Music Academy during the Spirit of Youth series of concerts held in 2016. Nanthesh has also had the privilege of performing on the mridangam for Doordarshan and All India Radio recordings.

After completing his Masters in Engineering at the University of Melbourne, he is currently employed in Sydney as a Management Consultant at KPMG.